How to prepare for an Ironman by Marcel ZAMORA

Marcel Zamora, 5 times winner Ironman of Nice and 3 times winner Enbrunman, gives us some advices about his trainning for the “226” distance. A lot of good will and Recuperat-ion Sport.

Three months before

As the first few months are less intense, I combine different
disciplines that later I cannot exercise, such as mountain biking or
skiing. Then begins the phase where I need to get more volume, doing weight exercises, running and swimming.

Two months before

At this stage training becomes harder and longer. I can get to do 8
hours of biking or 30 kilometers of running, considering that I train
every day of the week.

For several seasons I have been working in collaboration with my
representative, Cristian Llorens, in order to take into account all
professionals factors.

I must organize my schedule in order to properly recover between each competition, since an Ironman implies a great effort.

In pre-season I do 3 hours of biking and 2,500 meters of swimming.

One month before

This is when the training gets harder and more demanding, cycling
between 5 to 6 hours, swimming 3500 to 4000 meters and racing 70 to 80
km.

The day before

I run only 30 minutes to stretch my legs and activate my body. The night
before I try to eat carbohydrates, and by superstition I eat a pizza
with tuna.

3 hours before

I have a breakfast, but very light, because normally with the nerves it
costs me to eat. I drink a smoothie concentrated with carbohydrates and
something solid that would not bother me during the race.

Recover, do not give up

For the training to be effective, it should be divided into three phases:

1. The initial phase: we must start with a good warm up
that includes 5 to 10 minutes of incremental aerobic exercise, then
gradually increase the intensity until finishing with a sprint, to
activate the muscle fibers (most suitable for competitions).

2. The main phase: in this phase the training plan and the objectives we want to accomplish are put to practice.

3. The final phase also called the cool-down period; is
defined as a progressive decrease in training intensity allowing the
body to recover better. As far as nutrition and hydration, we can break
down into three phases similar to those of training, but in this case it
would be before, during and after exercising:

Before: take 300 to 600 ml of sports drinkRecuperat-ion SportDuring: take 500 to 1000 ml per hour of exercise. Each dose can be taken every 10-15 minutes.After: recovering 150% of body liquid has been scientifically proven to be the most appropriate way to allow the body to recover properly.